Islamic Republic of Tawhid
The Islamic Republic of Tawhid, or simply Tawhid, is a contiguous transcontinental country, consisting of a large majority of the Middle East, all of North Africa, parts of Central Asia, South Caucasus, Greece and Somolia. Home to more than 857 million people, and consisting of XX kilomters, Tawhid is the XX largest nation by size and the third largest by population in the world. Tawhid government is officially an islamic republic, where the the laws of Islam, or Sharia, are the guiding principles of the state. The Supreme Leader who interprets that law is the supreme authority of Tawhid. The current supreme leader is Ali Khamenei, and the president of Tawhid is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. History Politics Main article: Politics of Tawhid The political system of the Islamic Republic is based on the 1979 Constitution. Accordingly, it is the duty of the Islamic government to furnish all citizens with equal and appropriate opportunities, to provide them with work, and to satisfy their essential needs, so that the course of their progress may be assured. This has since been enforced by the complex yet functional government of Tawhid. The Supreme Leader of Tawhid (also known as the "Leader of the Revolution"), is highest authority in all of Tawhid, interpreting the laws of Islam known as Sharia. He is also charged with handling the general policies of the Islamic Republic of Tawhid, and is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Additionally, he controls the military intelligence and security operations; and has sole power to declare war or peace. After the Supreme Leader, the President of Tawhid is stated by the constitution as holding the highest power in the nation. The President is elected by the general populace to a four-year term, and may only be re-elected once, thereafter requiring the permission of Supreme Leader by way of th Guardian Council. The council, who's members are handpicked by the Supreme Leader himself, must approve of presidental candidates to insure their allegiance to the ideals of the Islamic revolution, and their unwavering devotion to the teachings of Islam itself. The President is responsible for the implementation of the Constitution and for the exercise of executive powers, except for matters directly related to the Supreme Leader, who has the final say in all matters. The President appoints members of the Council of Ministers, coordinates government decisions, and selects government policies to be placed before the legislature. As mentioned before, unlike most other nations, Tawhid's executive branch does not control the military's actions, all power residing with the Supreme Leader. Tawhid is a unicameral nation, the upper house removed after the revolution in 1979, but not officially dissolved until 2012 when it was merged into he lower body to form the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Tawhid (also known as the Majlis). The Majlis ratifies international treaties, drafts legislation, and approves of the national budget. As with the President, the members are approved by the Guardian Council, and are permitted four-year terms. Currently, the Majlis consist of 290 members. Also, all legislation from the assembly must be approved by the Guardian Council before passsing on to becoming a law. The Guardian Council The Guardian Council is made up of twelve jurists, with an additional six appointed by the Supreme Leader of Tawhid. The others are elected by the Majlis from a list of jurists provided by the Head of the Judicary of Tawhid. The Council interprets the constitution and may veto Parliament (in this case the Majlis). If a law happens to be incompatiable with the constitution or Sharia, then it is referred by to th Majlis for revision. One issue with the council was its preference to drawn upon a narrow interperation of Islamic law to veto parliamentary candidates from the Majlis. This led to the establishment of the Expediency Council, which has the to mediate conflicts between the Guardian Council and the Majlis. The Expediency Council serves as an advisory body to the Supreme Leader, and is thus one of the most powerful governing bodies in the country. Judiciary of Tawhid The Supreme Leader appoints the head of Tawhid's judiciary, who in turn appoints the head of the Supreme Court of Tawhid and the chief public prosecutor. There are numerous levels of judiciary in Tawhid, ranging from the regional courts that handle issues regarding problems related to the ethnic population it is overseeing, to the "revolutionary courts", which handle important national cases regarding crimes against national security. The decisions of the revolutionary courts are final and cannot be appealed, and often serve as the final resort of the most desperate of cases. The Special Clerical Court handles crimes allegedly committed by clerics, though it has handled cases involving lay people rather than the actual heads of the clergy themselves on occasion. The Special Clerical Court functions independently of the regular judicial framework and is accountable only to the Supreme Leader, and as with the revolutionary couns, the clerical court's rulings are final and cannot be appealed. The Assembly of Experts is composed of 86 "virtuous and learned" clerics elected by adult suffrage for eight-year terms, meets one week annually. As with all other bodies involving law, the members of the assembly are approved by the Guardian Council to determine their eligibility for the role. The Assembly's duty is to elect the next Supreme Leader of Tawhid, and has the constitutional right to remove the sitting Supreme Leader at any time. However, the body has not challenged any of the Supreme Leader's decisions to date. The Assembly hs few other duties outside of electing or impeacing the Supreme Leader, an spend most of the year handling issues of Islamic law and matters regarding the Supreme Leader's interperations of Sharia. Local city councils are elected by public vote to four-year terms in all cities and villages of Iran. According to article seven of Iran's Constitution, these local councils together with the Parliament are "decision-making and administrative organs of the State". This section of the constitution was not implemented until 1999 when the first local council elections were held across the country. Councils have many different responsibilities including electing mayors, supervising the activities of municipalities; studying, planning, co-ordinating and implementing of social, cultural, educational, health, economic, and welfare requirements of their constituencies. Military Main article: Islamic Republic Security Forces The official military force of the Islamic Republic of Tawhid are the Islamic Republic Security Forces. The military is divided into four branches; the army, the navy, the air force, and the elite guard corps of the military. These are further broken down into seperate branches as needed, but all all fall into those four distinctive forces. The military consists of 2,500,000 active forces, and another 3,000,000 in reserve. The IRSF is deticated to the protection of the Islamic people from the anti-Islamist sentiment growing across the globe. Regions such as Europe and India are targeted by the military in the event the nation is ever attacked. To that end, the military also maintains a large fusion arsenal as a deterrent to Everett and Israel's stockpiles. The Islamic Republic Army is the primary force tasked with handling all land-based military operations. Consisting of 1,750,000 personnel, the IRA is the largest component of the Tawhidi military. Built using the same forces of the Persian and Saudi militaries, the army is the oldest force in the military, and generally the most respected. The army is charged with maintaining internal security, and waging a conquest or defense. The current head of the Islamic Republic Army is General Karim Amirsadeghi. Amirsadeghi was one of the generals responisible for the widespread modernization of the military, and is considered a national hero by the general populce. The naval forces of Tawhid, known as the Islamic Republic Navy, handle the patrolling of Tawhidi waters, and projecting the nation's power on other landmasses. Currently, the navy is made up of 371 vessels and 450,000 personnel. During the 1980s, the navy underwent extensive upgrading, most important of these being the expansion of the naval forces, and the inclusion of larger vessels such as railgun-armed battleships, and carriers which had become increasingly more important as the Cold War expanded into regions surrounding the republic. To that end, the navy constructed two Saladin-class carriers; the TNS Saladin in 1983, and the TNS Abu Akbur in 1985, both of which still serve today. These are bolstered by another five carriers of different class. The head of the navy is currently Admiral Vanda Maradi, one of the few high-ranking female officers in the military today. The Islamic Republic Air Force is one of the forces deticated to the protection of Tawhidi airspace, and engaging in aerial combat against enemies of the state. Following the modernization plans of the 1980s, the air force is amoungst one of the most powerful in the world, operating various types of aircraft such as stealth fighters and unmanned drones. The military operates a number of airbases overseas to increase the ability of air force to fight in regions across the globe. The IRAF has been growing and increasing in strength, and with more than 10,504 aircraft of numerous types and sizes, and 50,000 missiles, the IRAF is very much the regional power in the Greater Middle East. Leading the branch is General Farah Khamenei, another female officer in a position of power, and highly conservative by Islamic standards. Additionally, she is the youngest member of the general staff, speaking volumes of her generation's views of their nation. Demographics See also: Demographics of Tawhid The government of Tawhid estimated that there are some 564,210,901 people living in the country, of which 4.3 million are suspected illegal immigrants. Tawhid is the third most populous nation in the world behind China and India, and a highly industrialized nation where major population increases are expected. Out of this large number of citizens, Arabs make up the majority of the population, followed by the Turks, Persians, and Caucausians. Black Africans are a large minority in the African portion of Tawhid, hailing mainly from the state of Chad and Sudan. Europeans and Jews living in Tawhid are few and far between, given the hostility toward them by the population for political and economical reasons (such as the attempt to overthrown Gaddhafi in 2011, and the support for rebel forces against Bashar al-Assad in Syria in 2012). Language The official language of Tawhid is Persian, as the Iranians control the government and thus their native langauge as the main working language. However, as the majority of the population is Arabic, and the Turks constitute a large portion of the population, Arabic and Turkish are major languages, with Arabic be the most spoken in Tawhid, followed by Turkish and then Persian. Another major language in Tawhid is Kurdish, spoken by the majority of the population residing between the states of Turkey, Iraq, and Syria. The Kurdish speaking population is believed to be about 25-35 million people, making the fourth-largest used language in the country. English is an important langauge used in the Arabian Peninsula by Tawhidi government employees working with contractors from other nations seeking to purchase oil from Tawhid. French, Greek, Hebrew, and Hindi are also important languages, but used primarily around the nations where they are spoken, typically by Tawhidi border guards. Health Healthcare in Tawhid has a long history dating back to before the Crusades, Islam having always placed strong emphasis on personal hygiene. The Qur'an advises Muslims to uphold high standards of physical hygiene and to be ritually clean whenever possible. For this reason in Tawhid, bathrooms are always equipped with a Muslim shower situated next to the toilet, so that an individual may wash themselves. This ablution is required in order to maintain ritual cleanliness. Also, Tawhidi citizens have one of the highest life expectancies in the world, generally attributed by the government and the people to their Islamic beliefs. The nation has some of the best treatment centers in the world, and the country's sanitation standards have been highly regarded for their success in preventing many highly preventable diseases, such as HIV/AIDS and smoking-related lung cancer. Because of the population's high emphise on marriage before sex, unwanted pregancies are very low. This has also lowered the rate of abortion, which though outlawed in 1981, was epidemic throughout the nation until crackdowns on illegal activity brought it to managable levels in the 1990s. Cancer rates in Tawhid are amoungst the lowest in the world, and treatment for cancer is widely avaliable to the population. Religion Islam is the single largest religious faith in Tawhid, and is state religion as well as the source of nation's laws (hence the reason the country is known as the Islamic Republic of Tawhid). Sunni Muslims make up the majority of the country's population, about 60% of the total population. They are followed closely by the Shia Muslims, who make up 30% of the population. Islam is the core of all Tawhidi principles, and the driving factor in the nation's dealings with the rest of the world. The Sunni and Shia populations had long been rivals of each other, not for religious purposes for both agree on the interpretation of Qu'ran, but on who was entitled to lead Muslim peopl after Muhhamad's death. After Tawhid's formation in 1979, the issue between the two factions was finally resolved, and they have since been allies instead of enemies, contributing greatly to the religion's growth. Christianity is the second largest religious faith in Tawhid, and is legally protected by the government. Many chruches exist throughout Tawhid, and several millions of Tawhidi are declared Christians. The Coptic Christian Chruch is the largest Christian group in Tawhid, followed by the Syriac Christian Chruch. There are many other Christian chruches in Tawhid, but they are very small and lack the numbers to offically count as a major force. The combined Christian population in Tawhid accounts for about 15% of the population. Judaism is another major religion in Tawhid, as is Buhddism and Hinduism, but all three are generally small and make up less than 1% of the nation's population. Culture Tawhid is home to a wide an varied array of cultures and traditions, most of which are influenced by the people's faith toward Islam. Areas such as Turkey and Cyprus are home to highly modern and slightly liberal populations, and host man events not entirely controlled by the Islamic state. Areas such as Saudi Arabia are highly conservative, and have more constraints on entertainment and literture. Art & Media Because of the religious nature of the country's laws, there are many constraints on the types of art and media allowed to be shown publically. This does not mean that the nation is repressive of artistic expression, for the region has long been a home to artists of all ages, backgrounds, and gender. The arts are widely respected by the government, and such events like the Iraqi National Ballet are promoted by the government and media. Traditional art has been praised worldwide, with areas such as Iran and Turkey having some of the richest artistic traditions in world history. Buildings such as the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Esfahan are evidence of this, and attempts to copy and top these have been the goal of many aspiring artists and builders throughout the nation. The media is somewhat controlled by the government, though not the extent of complete dominance. The government allows for some freedom of expression, though it keeps a close eye on those who stray too far from the ideals of state. The Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance reviews and approves of movies and events before they take place, though this has not stopped Tawhidi directors from developing movies that have won over three hundred awards in the past twenty-five years including Oscars. The cultural dominance of Tawhid in the region has not been despited by observors, who themselves admit to the high quality of the people's ideas and productions. Sports Sports are an important part of the nation's cultural heritage, and widely popular throughout Tawhid. Chess was invented by the Arab population in Tawhid centuries ago, and still a popular passtime. Soccer is the single most popular sport in Tawhid, with tens of millions of roaring fans. Several Tawhidi athletes have become internationally famed for their skills, and have contributed to te development of th sport worldwide. Polo is a widely played sport in Tawhid, and was originally created in present-day Iran. Skiing in the mountainous regions of Tawhid is another passtime that is widely avaliable to the people, and freestyle wrestling in another sport the nation is popular for. Oil wrestling in Turkey is highl popular as well, and has been the source of much cultural heritage for the Turkish population. Economy The economy of Tawhid is highly self-sustaining, with most of the resources needed produced locally. Steel production in the states of Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan are capable of meeting domestic demands, and food production in those states as well well as Iraq and Egypt are more enough to sustain the population's needs. Tawhid controls more than half of the world's oil supplies, and nearly a third of its natural gas reserves. With fusion power located in only five nations today, the rest of the world is still heavily reliant on the oil produced in Tawhid, making the nation fabulously wealthy, and fuelling its economy. The sevice and industrial sectors of Tawhid have been growing exponentally, having allowed the country to prepare for a post-oil economy decades ago. The national GDP of Tawhid is $12.343 trillion, the highest in the world, with the Union of Everett and the East Asian Federation following closely behind with $10.270 trillion and $9.418 trillion respectively. Taxes Tax rates in Tawhid are relatively low, despite the demands needed to sustain self-suffient economy of the nation. The income tax of Tawhid is 20%, still much lower than many of the taxes of the surrounding nations. The per capita of the average Tawhidi citizen was $21,877 in 2011, rather moderate despite the progress of the nation's ecnomic growth. Sales taxes were abolished in 1998, and all taxes rolled into two taxes; the aforementioned income tax, and the national tax, which taxes citizens based on their relation to the nation, their income rate, and the region in which they live. A person living in the state of Afghanistan can expect to pay less than a person in the state of Turkey, primarily because of the sources of income in their respective states, and in manner in which they are capable of maintaining their way of life with the jobs avaliable in each. This has helped to create a fair and balanced system for the average citizen, and help them provide for themselves and their family. Transport Energy Geography Tawhid encompasses numerous regions, such as Mesopotamia, the Arabian Peninsula, and parts of North Africa, giving the nation a range of climates and environments. The country is mostly arid in certain regions, while others such as Anatolia are well-watered and moist. Climate The country is generally warm all year long, with certain areas in Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the Caucaus recieving snowfall during the winter. Snowfall is not limited to just those states, but more commonly found there. Around the Mesopotamia region in Tawhid, rainfall is most common during the winter months, with rainfall during the summer a rare if unusual occurance. The vast majority of southern Tawhid, as other areas of the nation are typically arid and hot, with tempuratures reaching as high as 105 °F degrees. At its lowest, tempuratures can drop to as low as −40 °F degrees. The usual variation in the heat and cold can be expected to be about 85 °F degrees during the day, and 30-40 °F degrees during the night. Education Technology Category:Islamic Republic of Tawhid Category:Enclavehunter